A Cold War-era bunker located deep inside a Colorado mountain will be the new home of communications gear belonging to the U.S. military command in charge of monitoring the skies for enemy missiles and planes, the Agence France Presse reported.
Abandoned for nearly a decade, the massive cavern inside Cheyenne mountain- strong enough to withstand a nuclear attack- will house equipment from the North American Aerospace Command and U.S. Northern Command.
The move is to better protect the command's computer and digital communication networks in the event of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack, AFP reported.
"Because of the very nature of the way that Cheyenne Mountain's built, it's EMP-Hardened," said Admiral William Gortney, head of NORAD and Northern Command, currently located at Peterson Air Force base in Colorado Springs.
"And so, there's a lot of movement to put capability into Cheyenne Mountain and to be able to communicate in there," Gortney said.
The half-acre bunker, built in the 1960s, was designed to survive a nuclear attack from the former Soviet Union and allowed for officials to send signals that could launch missiles, AFP reported. It was NORAD's home until 2006 when it was moved to the Colorado Springs base because of its better resources.
But the military realized the command's heavy use of computers and sensors makes it more vulnerable to electromagnetic pulses- naturally occurring or otherwise.
The move is part of a 10-year contract with the Raytheon Corporation, which agreed to help the command perform "accurate, timely and unambiguous warning and attack assessment of air, missile and space threats," according to AFP.
The contract was set at $700 million.
